From Singapore we headed up the
Malacca Strait stopping briefly at Pulau Pisang, 65 miles
from Singapore, then continued to Pulau (meaning "Island") Besar
the following day.

Pulau Besar, Water Islands.

November 11

We anchored at a beautiful quiet
spot in front of a tiny beach. Tony from Tactical
Directions had us all over to his boat to celebrate our
16 Anniversary (Sept 10). We had a great potluck party

Leaving the anchorage from Pulau
Besar, we rounded the island, surprised to see an impressive
skyline of high rises and large buildings of Melaka. It was so
incongruous to the serene bay we had just emerged from.

The Malacca Straits were a
challenge to endure, with floating debris and garbage, long fish
nets everywhere, logs, muddy waters and numerous fish
boats, ships and cruise liners everywhere. But the hype about
piracy was really not an issue. We did not hear of any incidents
and we did not experience any unusual activity. In fact, there
was a notable presence of military ships throughout the Straits
and we could hear them contacting merchant vessels to confirm
their credentials.

There is NO wind in Malaysia! We
motored everywhere, often against current. We used an enormous
amount of diesel during our passages but at least the waters
were usually relatively flat. The only absolute was the
predictable violent afternoon thunderstorms packed with
hazardous lightening accompanied by torrential rains. We got in
the habit of putting our electronics in the oven each afternoon
in preparation for the onslaught.

Malaysia was a surprise to us. We
did not expect it to be so developed and modern. There is a wide
mix of cultures here but we did not find the people nearly as
friendly as in Indonesia.

PORT DICKSON
Admiral Marina

Nov 12-14

We arrived at Port Dickson Admiral
Marina one day after all the scheduled activities for the Rally
participants so as we were pulling into the marina, most of the
boats were vacating to move north and we waved hello-goodbye in
passing.

We were pleased to find the marina
very upscale and modern. The slips were new, the dock clean and
the resort included a swimming pool, always a bonus!

Since we arrived at the Port Dickson
Marina on Sunday afternoon, we were able to forgo our check in
until Monday so we wouldn't have to pay overtime charges. We
headed for the pool to cool off and visited poolside for the
rest of the day

We spent the next days getting
settled, cleaning the boats and making a quick trip to town by
taxi. Port Dickson is a small centre, with rather conventional
streets and storefronts, but we found an ATM, a phone card
centre, a grocery store and a restaurant for lunch. We were
reminded of the cleanliness of Singapore compared to its
neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia. It was difficult to adjust to
the smell of garbage in the sewers alongside the streets and
wondered about eating at the restaurants beside the road.

It was very hot and humid, almost
impossible to sleep at night even with our little table fan
plugged into the dock and situated inches from my face in bed.

MELAKA (Melacca)

Nov 15-16 Our group took
2 taxis to Melaka where we planned to stay overnight and explore
the fascinating old trading port. We left the Marina early and
so our rumbling tummies prompted a stop at a roadside cafe for
breakfast.

Gord thought he would keep it simple
and order an omelet. He always says that it's hard to screw up
an egg! Well it turned out that they had no idea what an omelet
was and something was lost in translation between us, our driver
and the cook, because out of the kitchen came a single boiled
egg on a plate. However when Gord cracked it the running innards
quickly squirted out....it was just barely warmed!

So he tried again, explaining that
the egg needed to be cooked without the shell. He eventually
settled for a version of fried egg! The driver ate the original
boiled egg and seemed to really enjoy it!

Upon arriving in Melaka an hour
later, we drove down narrow streets into the oldest section of
town where we checked into the Baba Hotel. The Baba Hotel
was the location where "Entrapment" was filmed and
it was interesting to recognize many of the sets that were used
in the movie.

Old
Town Melaka

The buildings surrounding the hotel
were hundreds of years old and we did not see any indication of
the highrise shoreline that we spotted coming from Water
Islands.

Melaka is known for its history,
museums (which are surprisingly numerous!), and the unique
Baba-Nyonya community, descendants of the original Chinese
settlers who married Malays. The old town reflects the
Portuguese, British and Dutch era in its architecture. Hundreds
of small shops and eateries line the narrow streets with no
sidewalks.

We spent the first day shopping and
exploring the city, wandering up and down the quaint cracked
streets, each with its own cultural personality and charm.

The windmill in Dutch Square
with beautiful gardens as seen from the windows of the Art
Gallery. Overlooking the main square is Melaka's Christ
Church landmark.

Jonkers Street (China Town)
is best known for shopping treasures

A group of Muslin girls wanted to
take OUR photo

Trishaws decorated with
flowers will take you anywhere

We visited the Maritime Museum,
housed in a replica of the Portuguese galleon which sank off
Melaka.

Later we met for lunch for
scrumptious Malay food.

Kongsi (Clan
Temples)

As we walked down the sidestreets,
clouds of incense billowed out of an abundance of striking
Chinese clan temples, each with an extravagant array of carved
colorful mythical figures made from porcelain and glass
reflecting Anglo-Indian design. Red and Gold were always the
primary colors, accented by elaborately engraved showcases of
lacquer work in the form of porticoes and pillars. .

Cheng Hoon Teng - oldest functioning Chinese Temple in
Malaysia>>>>

We had met an ex-pat from New
Zealand who, along with his Malaysian wife, operated a Jazz
Bar in Melaka. He offered to open the bar up for us at 10:30
that evening so after dinner we joined a few locals and had a
fun night of partying and dancing.

We found many street bars and
frequented a number of them after supper.

Our new friend jumped from piano to
keyboard to guitar and accompanied his wife singing. Becky and I
were recruited for backup.

Because Annie would not partake in the backup chorus, she was
subjected to a test of suitors.

First, Liam does his best to win her heart

Gord thinks a dance will do the trick

But Tony gets a ribbon for going on his knees!

Nov 16 Breakfast together next to Hotel

A walk along the river that runs through Melaka

ramshackle housing along the river banks

Melaka Tree

Business is slow!

We
all visited the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum (1421 Museum) and
our guided tour revealed much history and culture of Melaka 600
years ago. The museum occupies the original government depot built
by Admiral Cheng Ho, the Ming Grand Eunuch. His fleet of several
hundred ships visited 33 countries in the Pacific and Indian Ocean
over half a century before Columbus discovered America.

Included in the interactive exhibits
was a puppet show

Once again, Gord and I took the opportunity to pray for safe
passages and fair winds.

.From the top of the museum there was a great view of Melaka, old
and new intermingled.

Trishaws for
Transport

Everywhere were colorfully decorated
trishaws, overloaded with flowers, ornaments and lights. Most
had a bank of batteries that supplied the power for the lights,
sirens, horns and music.

We organized 2 trishaw to tour
around the city. Ours was pedaled by an 80 year old man, with
sticks for arms and toothpicks for legs. He had been operating
his rickshaw for over 30 years. At 18, he worked his trishaw
during the Japanese occupation of Melaka!

There were several spots, although
flat, where his struggle to keep the bike moving was proving
fruitless, so Gord got off and pushed!

We slowly traversed the streets of
downtown Melaka and ended up in the oldest part of the city where we
stopped at the Hang Li Ph Well which was once the main source
of water for the town.

Traditional
Homes

A short walk across a bridge took us
into a rather traditional neighborhood with beautifully kept
decorative houses surrounded by fabulous gardens.

We were invited into one of the
homes that was furnished with original artifacts, photos and
furniture.

Vividly patterned and decorated
example of local tradition

We all took the opportunity to bang
the gong 3 times for good luck!

After a bit of a climb for our Trishaw, we reached St Peters
Church, the oldest functioning Catholic Church in Malaysia.

Our Trishaw took us to a part of Melaka where the street was lined
with Peranakan homes. Beautifully updated and restored
colonial buildings, these buildings now house hostels and shops. The
lavish 19th century original fine Chinese decor still remains.

Indian
Table-top Lunch

After our tour, we were dropped at
an Indian restaurant for lunch. There were many locals eating on
basic wooden tables with a list of food items written on the
wall.

We were shown to a table and banana
leaf "placemats" were put in front of each of us. Then a pot
full of rice appeared and a mound was scooped by hand onto each
leaf. This was followed by some sort of greenish creamed
vegetable, a corn/soy mix (I think) and an array of other items,
all topped with a ladle of Dahl Soup. Some curried chicken,
chopped complete with bones, was added to the pile of food.

We all wondered how we should eat
this mountain of food. There were no eating utensils, but worse,
no napkins! We all decided just to order roti so we could use it
as a scoop and that worked great.

The food was good and a great
experience too!

After a full day of sightseeing we
were ready to return to Port Dickson so arranged a taxi back to
the boats.

KUALA LUMPUR

Nov 18 Stardust
and ourselves took a taxi to a nearby town where we boarded a
bus to Kuala Lumpur, the sprawling, chaotic modern capitol city
of Malaysia.

KL is a modern dynamic cosmopolitan
city. Its architectural heritage includes Moorish styled
edifices, colonial buildings and old shop houses, mixed among
the new modern condominiums and high office buildings.
Multi-racial communities occupy the busy streets.

We had booked a room in the heart of
Chinatown, a short hop from the bus station. The room was
basic but had a shower and a/c for $30 Cnd and the location
could not have been better.

We walked all over town, visiting
Central Market, an art deco style shopping complex, as well
as Chinatown. We met up with Annie who had bussed form Klang to
meet us and we window shopped at some of the more exclusive
stores. Gord got prescription sunglasses for the equivalent of
$100 Cnd (300 ringet) and I bought presents for everyone to give
when I return to Canada.

The highlight of KL
is the Night Markets of Chinatown. AT 5 pm, the main
street is transformed and a huge array of shoes, purses,
sunglasses, T-shirts, jewelry and of course, the Rolex
knockoffs, appear from nowhere as the hawkers set up their
temporary stalls, crammed together along narrow aisles packed
with people looking for a deal. But you have to haggle hard.
These guys are pros, and tough. But I did manage to get some
good deals and it was really fun.

Petronas
Twin Towers

Nov 19 We checked out of the
hotel early to stand in queue for tickets to see the Petronas
Towers, the impressive KL landmark that towers over the
city's skyline. We had an hour and a half wait but managed
to be included in the first group of visitors in front of a line
of hundreds of others who had not got up so early!

KL boasts the world's tallest twin
towers towering at a height of 452m.

The view from the bridge connecting
to two towers at the 41st floor was impressive and we marveled
at the dynamic cityscape of Kuala Lumpur.

Its architecture is representative
of the country's dominant cultures - the Malay, Chinese and
Indian.

Afterward we walked around the
massive grounds and parkland surrounding the towers. The area was
busy with children enjoying the pool and water park.

The never ending wailing was resounding from a
large mosque as a group of Muslim girls passed by.

KL Radio Tower

Next stop, a visit to the KL Radio
Tower, one of the highest free standing structures in the world.
This sighting involved an entrance fee but it included a
personal MP4 description of all the buildings, which encompassed
360 degrees so we got a great overview of the city from that
perspective.

We got another view and different perspective on the Twin Towers
from the top of the Radio Tower.

A group of school children were visiting the tower. We were awed at
how regimented, well behaved and quiet they were.

For a change of scenery, we took the
train back to Port Dickson, which proved to be a mistake. The
scenery was not much more impressive, the seats were hard, the
cars packed, and the commuter made stops every 2 minutes all the
way to the end of the line so the trip was long and
uncomfortable (and more expensive than the express bus).

The sky opened up just as we
returned to the boats, with the usual display of vivid lightning
and a heavy downpour.

Nov. 20 We left Port Dickson
deciding to bypass Port Klang and the Selangor Yacht Club
because we heard that the water was polluted and shallow.
Instead, we made way for Pulau Pankor.